As a job I dismantled and cleaned out a long-time bike workshop that went bankrupt. Found alot of different things there. Bearings, bleed kits, cranks, carbon fiber gear, alloyed gear, frames, forks, wheels, wires, tubess, wheel gauge setters, e-bike batteries, and everything in between. All sorted after different brands, with Shimano having the most presence. In a box marked "?" I found, unbeknownst to me at the time, a Var 34 headsetting tool. At first I thought it was a heavy-duty plumber's tool, or something like that. That rabbit hole of Google-searching is what lead me to this video. As it was a job to simply clean out the premises, I put everything up for sale at 350$. (A massive under-sale, I'm aware.) But I probably made the day for the dude in his mid twenties who bought it all.
I definitely don’t want everyone thinking that they need to rush and buy this tool to install one headset ever. But for the enthusiast who plans to do several headsets and bottom brackets over a lifetime, I think it may be worth it.
because of this video-- I went ahead and steepen my head tube by 2 degree-- 64 to 66 degree - and the bike is way more fun-- plus the works component headset came in bright anodized orange-- adding a bit of bling
Thanks for a nice video. However Wanted to bring to your attention, that particularly this procedure (installation of Works HA adjusting headset) is exactly what you DO NOT want to do with the fancy Parktool press the way you demonstrate it in the video. It is the use of aligning cups that seat in bearing races during the installation that is inappropriate. These are designed with an assumption and purpose to be centered and co-axial with headtube to guide and direct the cup along and into the HT. Meanwhile in the headset in question, those bearing races are machined into cup and neither are centered nor coaxial, thus by using this tool you are creating excessive sideload on HT potentially causing damage (ovalization of the headtube). In order to use it this way you either need to fabricate the guides that would account for both tilt and offset of the bearing race in the cup (3d printing is a cheap option) or go back to your old bearing press. Hope I was able to communicate my point and please keep on with providing the good stuff!
I appreciate the tips. However, there is no mention of doing anything special by Works themselves. www.workscomponents.co.uk/ekmps/shops/workscomponents/resources/Other/ec44-zs55-56new.pdf. I’ve pressed in this headset twice now with no issues whatsoever. I’d didn’t start off center, and it didn’t try to go off center while pressing in. I can see how it might be better to use the flat surface of the press to actually push the cup and not the bearing.
Well that booklet is not super informative. You can also look at an official CaneCreek Angleset installation tutorial, which uses the same PT tool, but does not use the alignment guides. I hope you can agree that my argument makes at least some sense, and I thought it was more or less obvious thing (maybe people who wrote the booklet from WC also did?), though I might have a certain bias having the experience of working in the bikeshop for several years. I am pretty confident that there is unlikely any damage to Honzo's HT (thick steel intended to run @63deg) but it was just to point out that it is a bad practice. I justified commenting for the sake of broader audience for whom your content is educational and who might use it as a direct How-To guide. Anyhow, sorry for that intervention, and once again thank you for providing such a good content! Cheers
@@igorvoldiner9085 I reached out to Works Components directly. They watched the video and this was their reply: "Essentially there should only be a real issue if you use a locating 'drift' in both the upper and lower portion of the headtube during install and the drift has minimal clearance between itself and the press centre-shaft (hope that makes sense) - you then have the drifts fitting tightly to the bearing and headtube ID and no ability for any movement between these and the shaft to allow for the difference in angle of faces. So long as the headset is pressed into the headtube evenly, there should be no issues and over many years of manufacturing the headsets and providing them direct to the customer, to shops, race teams, frame manufacturers etc we have not had a single report of damage of any sort caused during install - We use a standard press in the same manner as yourself here in the shop for install. We are actually looking at manufacturing our own press drifts in the near future to help provide a cost-effective install solution for those that don't wish to invest in an expensive press but want to deal with the install on their own with some tweeks to help with the unique nature of installing this type of headset."
@@DrJMTB Thanks a lot for going this far! So it appears to be that tolerances of that fit are loose enough to compensate 1deg at a time. It was interesting to hear from them on this topic, but i am a bit confused with their intention to make their own guides/drifts for the press in future - why if they're stating that the use of regular one "should not be a problem"?
Once I reached the related moment in the video, I started searching if s/one would've mentioned it! That was painful to see and if he doesn't realize how wrong this is in order to avoid it, I realized that nothing in this video was worth taking in account... And I haven't even mentioned the matter of how briefly the alignment of the cups to the symmetry -longitudinal- plane of the frame was touched, which will lead to accelerated wear of the bearings and misaligned fork, if not done properly (which is definitely not done "by eye")...
For a home mechanic that rarely installs a headset, will it work just to buy the Park Tool #530-2 Replacement Stepped Bushings for $20 and use a threaded rod with a few large washers and nuts instead of spending $200 in the HHP-2? It will not be as elegant, but it should work for a fraction of the cost.
Yup, the key is to have the cups level to start and apply steady pressure/turns on the threaded rod. If things are getting crooked stop and pop the cups back out. For popping out the cups PVC and a rubber mallet is much gentler than a metal tool to remove.
Good well excuted demo .wish there was a variety off headset with different degree with adjustable position without removing from bike like that on motor cycle I just wish I'd seen this 5mth ago
Great video mate. Just FYI I just received my WC 2deg angle head set and excited to install it on my 2016 Scott Genius. That should in theory bring the HTA from 67.9deg to 65.9deg. I shall get my bike shop to do it as I don't have the right tools. However I'm a bit worried about the bearings that came in my set. The bottom and top bearings don't seem to slide into the bottom and top caps easily. I made sure the chamfered side faced into the cups but still they felt tight fitting. I don't feel comfortable forcing them in as I do not want to damage the bearings nor the cups. I'm just wondering if you experience the same with your set?
@@DrJMTB Cheers mate for getting back to me on this one. So if you had the same issue as me, then I guess it is not a manufacturing issue with the head set cups+bearings. I just have to get the bike mechanic to gently push in those bearing into the cups
Yes but there's a little bit more to that. First you need to identify the size of your headset (which the same as determining the size of your headtube). The internal diameter of your headtube needs to match the external diameter of the headset cups. Also you need to know whether you headset type is integrated, semi integrated (IS) or external cups (EC & ZS) If you have an integrated type where your head tube doesn't have any cups and the bearings just sit into the frame, then sorry you're out of luck. You may want to check the 9pont8 Slack-R angleset instead. Semi integrated is a bit tricky. Semi means if the top part has the bearing pressed into the frame, then the bottom part has an external cup or vice versa These angle headset from Works Components are more suited on current headsets that are external cups meaning, there are actual cups that are pressed into the headtube and the bearings sit inside them. Most of standard external cup headsets are zero stack (ZS) meaning when both top and bottom cups are pressed into the headtube they don't create any significant stack height (less than 3mm or so hence the name zero stack) My bike uses external cups and both the top & bottom cups were originally zero stack. I bought the Works Components 2 degree angleset for my bike after determining the correct size. The angleset had a zero stack for the bottom cup but the top cup is significantly external. The stack height increased by 10mm which was still fine because I had extra length on my fork steerer tube Hope this helps. Good luck with your search for an angle headset
So what's your opinion on Wolf Tooths angle headset where the bearings actually sit at an angle supposedly reducing the "unnecessary friction" of angle headsets with bearings that sit flat in the cups? Do the Works set sit flat or angled, does it matter really? Wolf claims performance enhancing compared to competition 🤷
@@DrJMTB thank you for your quick reply! I am stuck between picking one up😭 I already have my measurements all set just need to bite the bullet, or in this case my wallet 🤣
I'd try to use the one Works supplies, as it may fit the lower bearing better. That being said, if you just can't get it off, you could try and see if it sits flush against the bearing and you shouldn't have issues. A bike shop should be able to pop your old one off in a minute.
As a job I dismantled and cleaned out a long-time bike workshop that went bankrupt. Found alot of different things there.
Bearings, bleed kits, cranks, carbon fiber gear, alloyed gear, frames, forks, wheels, wires, tubess, wheel gauge setters, e-bike batteries, and everything in between. All sorted after different brands, with Shimano having the most presence.
In a box marked "?" I found, unbeknownst to me at the time, a Var 34 headsetting tool. At first I thought it was a heavy-duty plumber's tool, or something like that. That rabbit hole of Google-searching is what lead me to this video.
As it was a job to simply clean out the premises, I put everything up for sale at 350$. (A massive under-sale, I'm aware.) But I probably made the day for the dude in his mid twenties who bought it all.
Awesome - thanks! I'm looking to slacken out my old hardtail, and super happy to have found such a good review on it. Thank you.
6:21 why are you pressing directly at the bearing instead of the cup?
Yes
the zipties for the cups is a neat trick! thanks!
👊🏼👊🏼
I couldn't center that Amazon press on a BB92 Press fit bottom bracket, BUT I had ZERO issues pressing in a ZS44 ZS56 headset. It fit perfectly.
Another great video. I have the same tool. So worth it. I use it for my bb as well.
I definitely don’t want everyone thinking that they need to rush and buy this tool to install one headset ever. But for the enthusiast who plans to do several headsets and bottom brackets over a lifetime, I think it may be worth it.
@@DrJMTB agreed. I’ll definitely get my use out of it, and should last my lifetime.
@@DrJMTB hmm double up as a weapon as well ,lol
because of this video-- I went ahead and steepen my head tube by 2 degree-- 64 to 66 degree - and the bike is way more fun-- plus the works component headset came in bright anodized orange-- adding a bit of bling
Thanks for a nice video. However
Wanted to bring to your attention, that particularly this procedure (installation of Works HA adjusting headset) is exactly what you DO NOT want to do with the fancy Parktool press the way you demonstrate it in the video. It is the use of aligning cups that seat in bearing races during the installation that is inappropriate. These are designed with an assumption and purpose to be centered and co-axial with headtube to guide and direct the cup along and into the HT. Meanwhile in the headset in question, those bearing races are machined into cup and neither are centered nor coaxial, thus by using this tool you are creating excessive sideload on HT potentially causing damage (ovalization of the headtube). In order to use it this way you either need to fabricate the guides that would account for both tilt and offset of the bearing race in the cup (3d printing is a cheap option) or go back to your old bearing press. Hope I was able to communicate my point and please keep on with providing the good stuff!
I appreciate the tips. However, there is no mention of doing anything special by Works themselves. www.workscomponents.co.uk/ekmps/shops/workscomponents/resources/Other/ec44-zs55-56new.pdf. I’ve pressed in this headset twice now with no issues whatsoever. I’d didn’t start off center, and it didn’t try to go off center while pressing in. I can see how it might be better to use the flat surface of the press to actually push the cup and not the bearing.
Well that booklet is not super informative. You can also look at an official CaneCreek Angleset installation tutorial, which uses the same PT tool, but does not use the alignment guides. I hope you can agree that my argument makes at least some sense, and I thought it was more or less obvious thing (maybe people who wrote the booklet from WC also did?), though I might have a certain bias having the experience of working in the bikeshop for several years. I am pretty confident that there is unlikely any damage to Honzo's HT (thick steel intended to run @63deg) but it was just to point out that it is a bad practice. I justified commenting for the sake of broader audience for whom your content is educational and who might use it as a direct How-To guide. Anyhow, sorry for that intervention, and once again thank you for providing such a good content!
Cheers
@@igorvoldiner9085 I reached out to Works Components directly. They watched the video and this was their reply: "Essentially there should only be a real issue if you use a locating 'drift' in both the upper and lower portion of the headtube during install and the drift has minimal clearance between itself and the press centre-shaft (hope that makes sense) - you then have the drifts fitting tightly to the bearing and headtube ID and no ability for any movement between these and the shaft to allow for the difference in angle of faces.
So long as the headset is pressed into the headtube evenly, there should be no issues and over many years of manufacturing the headsets and providing them direct to the customer, to shops, race teams, frame manufacturers etc we have not had a single report of damage of any sort caused during install - We use a standard press in the same manner as yourself here in the shop for install.
We are actually looking at manufacturing our own press drifts in the near future to help provide a cost-effective install solution for those that don't wish to invest in an expensive press but want to deal with the install on their own with some tweeks to help with the unique nature of installing this type of headset."
@@DrJMTB Thanks a lot for going this far! So it appears to be that tolerances of that fit are loose enough to compensate 1deg at a time. It was interesting to hear from them on this topic, but i am a bit confused with their intention to make their own guides/drifts for the press in future - why if they're stating that the use of regular one "should not be a problem"?
Once I reached the related moment in the video, I started searching if s/one would've mentioned it! That was painful to see and if he doesn't realize how wrong this is in order to avoid it, I realized that nothing in this video was worth taking in account... And I haven't even mentioned the matter of how briefly the alignment of the cups to the symmetry -longitudinal- plane of the frame was touched, which will lead to accelerated wear of the bearings and misaligned fork, if not done properly (which is definitely not done "by eye")...
You commented on a video which helped me find the channel... Stoked and surprised I didn't have you subbed yet...
For a home mechanic that rarely installs a headset, will it work just to buy the Park Tool #530-2 Replacement Stepped Bushings for $20 and use a threaded rod with a few large washers and nuts instead of spending $200 in the HHP-2? It will not be as elegant, but it should work for a fraction of the cost.
Yup, the key is to have the cups level to start and apply steady pressure/turns on the threaded rod. If things are getting crooked stop and pop the cups back out. For popping out the cups PVC and a rubber mallet is much gentler than a metal tool to remove.
Great work!!
Had mine installed. Wc 2deg on a 2016Norco Range. Now on its effective ht of 63.6
Which headset exactly? I've been looking for one for my 2015 range. Do you know if 2015 and 2016 have the same size headtube?
I am not certain abt it. My frame size is L and has 100mm ht lenght. When ordering wc headset it will ask you certain info abt your frame.
Does slackening head tube angle change seat tube angle?
Good well excuted demo .wish there was a variety off headset with different degree with adjustable position without removing from bike like that on motor cycle I just wish I'd seen this 5mth ago
Great video mate. Just FYI I just received my WC 2deg angle head set and excited to install it on my 2016 Scott Genius. That should in theory bring the HTA from 67.9deg to 65.9deg. I shall get my bike shop to do it as I don't have the right tools.
However I'm a bit worried about the bearings that came in my set. The bottom and top bearings don't seem to slide into the bottom and top caps easily. I made sure the chamfered side faced into the cups but still they felt tight fitting. I don't feel comfortable forcing them in as I do not want to damage the bearings nor the cups.
I'm just wondering if you experience the same with your set?
The bearings were SUPER tight with mine as well. 👍🏻
@@DrJMTB Cheers mate for getting back to me on this one. So if you had the same issue as me, then I guess it is not a manufacturing issue with the head set cups+bearings. I just have to get the bike mechanic to gently push in those bearing into the cups
How do you know if your frame is compatible with a works component head set? Do you only need to know the head tube diameter?
Yes but there's a little bit more to that. First you need to identify the size of your headset (which the same as determining the size of your headtube). The internal diameter of your headtube needs to match the external diameter of the headset cups. Also you need to know whether you headset type is integrated, semi integrated (IS) or external cups (EC & ZS)
If you have an integrated type where your head tube doesn't have any cups and the bearings just sit into the frame, then sorry you're out of luck. You may want to check the 9pont8 Slack-R angleset instead. Semi integrated is a bit tricky. Semi means if the top part has the bearing pressed into the frame, then the bottom part has an external cup or vice versa
These angle headset from Works Components are more suited on current headsets that are external cups meaning, there are actual cups that are pressed into the headtube and the bearings sit inside them. Most of standard external cup headsets are zero stack (ZS) meaning when both top and bottom cups are pressed into the headtube they don't create any significant stack height (less than 3mm or so hence the name zero stack)
My bike uses external cups and both the top & bottom cups were originally zero stack. I bought the Works Components 2 degree angleset for my bike after determining the correct size. The angleset had a zero stack for the bottom cup but the top cup is significantly external. The stack height increased by 10mm which was still fine because I had extra length on my fork steerer tube
Hope this helps. Good luck with your search for an angle headset
@@shafhamid83 hey this helps a great bit! Thanks for the reply man.
Great video - how did it ride after steepening the HTA?
Definitely digging it! ua-cam.com/video/C6q3lkAyPd0/v-deo.html
So what's your opinion on Wolf Tooths angle headset where the bearings actually sit at an angle supposedly reducing the "unnecessary friction" of angle headsets with bearings that sit flat in the cups? Do the Works set sit flat or angled, does it matter really? Wolf claims performance enhancing compared to competition 🤷
I’ve had 2 of the Geoshift headsets now and they have performed flawlessly. But I also never had any trouble out of the Works after many miles.
@@DrJMTB thank you for your quick reply! I am stuck between picking one up😭 I already have my measurements all set just need to bite the bullet, or in this case my wallet 🤣
do you have a link to the specific headset? because i got the same bike, but can't find the 1,5 degrees headset
Did you get a link from the specific headset? I want to try 64’5º on my Honzo
Hi! Did you use the crown race that was already on your fork or did you swap it with the one Works provided?
I'd try to use the one Works supplies, as it may fit the lower bearing better. That being said, if you just can't get it off, you could try and see if it sits flush against the bearing and you shouldn't have issues. A bike shop should be able to pop your old one off in a minute.
Looks cool but that top cup takes up a lot of precious real estate. I unfortunately do not have the luxury of space there
Grab one of the Wolf Tooth components. They’re zero stack. This worked out fine for me, but I should’ve gotten the ZS upper.
Crane”creek”
Why the quotes what is meant by this?